Lawn-mower.



L. C. WEBER. LAWN mowE.- APPLICATION FILED I'IINE;' .I. |918.' 1,296,577. APatented Mar. 4,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

I atroz/14 m benennen o. wenns, or nino v i N'CSBUEG, PENNSYLVANIA.

LAWN-MWER. f

Specification of Letters Patent.

.remmen nien-r, loro.

dpnlicetion filed June 2l, 1918. ierial lilo. 241,236.

l To wiso/n t meg; concern lie it lnown that l, LAURENCE C. WEBER, a citizen of the United States, residing at oechenicsburg, in the county of Cumberland and State of Pennsylvania, have invntcd certain ynew and useful Improvements in Lawn-Mowers; and l do hereby declerc the following to .be a ulhclear, and et description of the invention, such as enable others skilled in the art to which it enperteins to make end use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in lawn mcwers, sind has for on'e of its objects the provision of means whereby the device is propelled b v motor power, thus obviating manuel power for such purpose, thereby rendering the device especially adaptable for cutting large grass areas.

Another object of the invention is the provision of means for raising and lowering the critter on the main frame when desired.

A further objiect of this invention is the provision of means whereby a device may be propelled in a rearward or forward direction by the motor power, as desired.

A still further object -of this invention is 'the provision of a. lawn mower of the above stated character, which will be simple, dn-

,V rable and eliicient.v and which may be manu- Cie factored and sold at e comparatively low cost.

"W ith these `and other objects in view, will become more apparent as the description proceeds, the invention consists in certainv novel features of construction, combination end arrangement of parte as will be hereinater more lulljvv described and claimed.

For e complete understanding of my invention, reference will he had to the followdescription and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure lis a side elevation of e lawn mower constructed in accordance with my invention,

'Fig'. is e top plan view of the same,

Fig 3 is a, fragmentary plan View of the driving meent-msm of the device,

Fig. Ll is a sectional view, teken on the line l-ll of Fig, 3,

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view, taken on the line of Fig, 3,

Fig. 6 is' e fragmentary sectional view of the cutting means. and

Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view of a clutch.

Referring in d teil to the drawings, the

numeral 1 indicates a main frame, which is of substantially rectangular formation having its forward end reduced, as illustrated at Q. The reduced end 2 of the' frame 1 lhas secured thereto a fifth wheel 3 by means of a bracket fl. Arms 5 are associated with the fifth wheel to which is journaled a front wheel, 6. The fifth wheel 3 is connected together by a vertical .shaft or king bolt, 7, having secured to its upper end a beveled gear 8, which meshes with a beveled gear 9. The beveled gear 9 is secured to avshaft 10 supported in brackets 11 carried by .the frame 1. The shaft 10 extends rearwardly of the frame and has secured to its rear end a beveled geel' 12, meshing with a beveled gear 13 carried by the post 14: of a steering wheel 15. The steering wheell is located adjacent the operator who occupies the seat 16, and thus it will be seen that by turning the steering wheel l5 their-ont wheel 6 may be turned in a corresponding direction to steer the frame.

The rear end of the frame 1 has secured thereto downwardly depending standards 17, in whichis journaled a rear axle 18. having secured to each end wheels 19. The rear axle 18 is provided with the usual differential, and the ring gear 2O has sprocket teeth to engage an endless chain 21, which passes over a sprocket wheel 22, secured to a transverse shaft 23 journaled in the frame 1 adjacent its rear end. The transverse shaft 23 has secured thereto :t beveled gear Qdi. which meshes with s beveled gear Q5 secured to a driven shaft 26. The driven shaft 26 is journaled to-the frame 1 in any desired manner and has splined to its forward end a direction and speed changing gear 27, The gear 2'? has clutch teeth 28 adapted to coperate with clutch teeth 29 'formed upon a gear 30 secured to a. drive shaft 31. The drive sha-ft 31 isjournaled in the frame and has secured to its forward end the male member of a conical clutch 33. The female member 34- of the clutch 33 is secured to the cranlr shaft of an engine 36 mounted. upon the frame 1, and which may be of any desired type. The male member 32 of the clutch has connected thereto an actuating lever 36 for engaging' and dis,

engaging the male member with the female member of the clutch 33. Thus itwill be seen by engaging the members of the clutch the engine will drive the rear wheels 19 to cause the device to move forwardly.v

^ and 39. 40 s,

f is moved in mesh with the gear 39, 'causing is secured to the shaft 42,

^ of substantially als and has secured to to a vcontrolling'lever 56. -lever provid the rear lwh direction at a reduced speed. A shaft 42 is journaled one end a friction disk 43, which engages a friction disk 44 secured to the driven shaft 26. A .sprocket gear 45 and-has mounted thereon a sprocket chain 46, which passes over a sprocket wheel 47 secured to a sha t 48 that supports the cutting knives 49. The cutting knives tion, consisting of the curved blades having their edges sharpened for cooperation wit a cutting knife 50. ary and is carried by an auxiliary' frame 51. The auxiliary frame 51 is pivoted to the main frame l, as illustrated at 52, and is U-shaped formation. lt will, therefore, be seen upon rotation of the friction disk 44 the cuttingkni'ves 49 will be rotated, cutting the grass in cooperation with the stationary knife 50.

An elevating rod 53 is pivoted to the auX- iliary frame yand to a bell crank lever 54; The bell crank lever is pivotally mounteelsto be driven in a reverse ed upon the main frame 1, and has connected` d 55, which is in turn pivote thereto a ro The controlling ed with ment 57 on the frame 1 operates with@ se Y u at various positions,

in holding the fr 1 so that the height ofthe cutter can be varied when desired.

By having the cutter driven b,y a friction disk provides means wherein the various gears and other parte of the device will clutch elements in the frame 1 v The knife 50 is station-l a catch that co' preferred embodiment of my invention, it

disk 43 when undue strain is an J described lthe will be understood that minorchanges construction, combination and arrangementv vof parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed. l

Having thus described my invention, what l claim is:

A lawn mower comprising a main frame, rear wheels journaled to the frame, a front wheel pivotally mounted in said frame, means steering said front carried by said frame, a

clutch associated with said engine, a driven shaft journaled in said frame, -a transverse shaft journaled in said frame and connected to the driven shaft, means connecting the transverse sha t with the rear wheels, a counter shaft journaled in said frame, a pair of ears carried by said lcounter shaft, a stub .shaft carried by said frame, a gear journaled to the 'stub shaft and in meshvwith onegof the gears o said pair, a drive shaft journaled in said frame an connected to the engine, a gear secured to the drive shaft, a clutch clement formed on said last-named gear, a gear splined to carried .by the last-named gear and adapted to engage the hist-named clutch elementl for driving the rear wheels in a forward tion, cutting means carrie by said frame, and means driving said cutting means by the driven sha ln testimony whereof l aix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

` LAURENCE C. WEBER. l Witnesses:

JAS. L; Yonne,

C. I. Swnn'rz.

wheel, an engine directhe driven shaft, a clutch element 

